Tandoori chicken

The good thing about Tandoori chiken is that you can start to make it the day before and then cook it the next day.  If you are having a barbeque or any thing like that is it the perfect thing to do forget about and then cook when you are at the grill.  Of course, unless you actually have a Tandoori oven you will not be really making Tandorri chicken.  But unless you want to dig a pit and fire it up in your garden or build one in your kitchen ths is as good as we can do.

1.25kg/2½lb chicken

2 tsp salt

1-2 lemons, halved

425ml/1 pint plain yoghurt

½ onion, coarsely chopped

1 garlic clove, chopped

2.5cm/1in piece fresh root ginger, chopped

1-2 hot green chillies, roughly sliced

2 tsp garam masala

Now all depending on how good you are in the kitchen you can get a whole chicken and joint it up, cut the breasts off and cut the legs in to drumstick and thigh. Or you can just get it from the shop pre jointed.  For me I prefer to use just leg meat for this dish.  In fact, I do not know why we do not use more leg meat from the chicken.  It has so much more flavour that the barest. What I would like to do is take the thigh and remove the bone then beat flat.  This way it cooks really quickly and is so succulent and tender as well.  Whatever cut of chicken you use it has to be skin off.

Now if you are using chicken still on the bone then cut in to the chicken and this will help in getting the marinade right in to the chicken. Now put your chicken in a bowl and sprinkle it with the salt Then get the lemons and cut them in half and squeeze all the juices in to the bowl with the chicken. Pick out the lemon pips and throw the rest of the lemon in the bowl.  Now work the salt and the lemon juice in to the chicken then set this to one side.

Now crush your garlic, ginger, and chillies together and add that to the bowl along with the Garam masala.  Work this in to the chicken so that you get it worked in to all the meat.  And finally add the yogurt and mix that in so that every thing is cover with the marinade. 

Now cover the bowl with cling film and put this in the fridge.  It needs to be in the marinade for at least six hours but the best thing is to have it in it for about twenty four hours.  This gives time for the lemon juice yoghurt and spices to fully impregnate the chicken and give it that authentic flavour.

Now for the best result you want to cook it as hot as you can.  So for the best result turn your own on and preheat to its hottest setting.

Remove your chicken from the marinade and shake of the excess marinade then lay it on a tray.  Discard the old marinade, as you cannot reuse it.  Then put this in the oven towards the top.  Now if you have used chicken barest and leg meat the barest meat will cook quicker than the leg meat so you will have to remove it first.  So it will take any thing from 15 to 25 minutes to cook all depending on what cut of meat and how big it is.

Cut it with a knife or a skewer and see if the juices run clear, or if it is springy to the touch, or failing that cut it in half.

And that is that Tandoori chicken, Just serve with salad and wedges of line or lemon. Or even better slice up the chicken and put it in a sandwich.